$ B = \left[\begin{array}{rr}3 & 1 \\ 4 & 2\end{array}\right]$ $ A = \left[\begin{array}{rr}-2 & 4 \\ 1 & 5\end{array}\right]$ What is $ B A$ ?
Because $ B$ has dimensions $(2\times2)$ and $ A$ has dimensions $(2\times2)$ , the answer matrix will have dimensions $(2\times2)$ $ B A = \left[\begin{array}{rr}{3} & {1} \\ {4} & {2}\end{array}\right] \left[\begin{array}{rr}{-2} & \color{#DF0030}{4} \\ {1} & \color{#DF0030}{5}\end{array}\right] = \left[\begin{array}{rr}? & ? \\ ? & ?\end{array}\right] $ To find the element at any row $i$ , column $j$ of the answer matrix, multiply the elements in row $i$ of the first matrix, $ B$ , with the corresponding elements in column $j$ of the second matrix, $ A$ , and add the products together. So, to find the element at row 1, column 1 of the answer matrix, multiply the first element in ${\text{row }1}$ of $ B$ with the first element in ${\text{column }1}$ of $ A$ , then multiply the second element in ${\text{row }1}$ of $ B$ with the second element in ${\text{column }1}$ of $ A$ , and so on. Add the products together. $ \left[\begin{array}{rr}{3}\cdot{-2}+{1}\cdot{1} & ? \\ ? & ?\end{array}\right] $ Likewise, to find the element at row 2, column 1 of the answer matrix, multiply the elements in ${\text{row }2}$ of $ B$ with the corresponding elements in ${\text{column }1}$ of $ A$ and add the products together. $ \left[\begin{array}{rr}{3}\cdot{-2}+{1}\cdot{1} & ? \\ {4}\cdot{-2}+{2}\cdot{1} & ?\end{array}\right] $ Likewise, to find the element at row 1, column 2 of the answer matrix, multiply the elements in ${\text{row }1}$ of $ B$ with the corresponding elements in $\color{#DF0030}{\text{column }2}$ of $ A$ and add the products together. $ \left[\begin{array}{rr}{3}\cdot{-2}+{1}\cdot{1} & {3}\cdot\color{#DF0030}{4}+{1}\cdot\color{#DF0030}{5} \\ {4}\cdot{-2}+{2}\cdot{1} & ?\end{array}\right] $ Fill out the rest: $ \left[\begin{array}{rr}{3}\cdot{-2}+{1}\cdot{1} & {3}\cdot\color{#DF0030}{4}+{1}\cdot\color{#DF0030}{5} \\ {4}\cdot{-2}+{2}\cdot{1} & {4}\cdot\color{#DF0030}{4}+{2}\cdot\color{#DF0030}{5}\end{array}\right] $ After simplifying, we end up with: $ \left[\begin{array}{rr}-5 & 17 \\ -6 & 26\end{array}\right] $